Failure Isn't Final

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A reflection and prayer to start the day with the Revd Catherine De Souza, Senior Leader of City Church in Cardiff. Good morning. Yesterday was Father’s Day, except for in my house, where we marked Father’s Day on Saturday. As ministers, Sunday is a busy day for my husband and for me and although we celebrate the day across our three church services, it doesn’t leave us much time to celebrate together with our young daughters. We’ve learnt through some failed Father’s Days and Mother’s Days that trying to squeeze in rushed celebratory meals during the Sunday just doesn’t work. If we move our day to the Saturday, we can celebrate without rushing. When failure is used as an opportunity to learn, it can often be a building block to success. In fact, there are many famous failures in history who proved that failure doesn’t have to be final. Sir James Dyson, who invented the Dyson vacuum cleaner, made 5,126 failed prototypes before he landed on the working product – his 5,127th attempt! Or inventor Thomas Edison, who famously said “I have not failed. I have just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” The apostle Peter experienced some significant failures during his life: Following Jesus’ arrest, Peter denied even knowing Jesus three times. But after Jesus’ death and resurrection, he appeared to his disciples and on one occasion Jesus asked Peter three times, “Do you love me?”, three times Peter replied that he did and three times Jesus told Peter “feed my sheep”. Three statements of love that cancelled out three denials of Jesus. Three commands to lead and care for the Church that cancelled out three failures. God, it’s a wonderful reassurance to know that our failures don’t have to be final with you. Help us when we stumble and remind us that you are with us in both our mistakes and in our successes. Amen